The Villainess

Synopsis

An endless vengeance begins

A young girl is raised as a killer in the Yanbian province of China. She hides her identity and travels to South Korea where she hopes to lead a quiet life but becomes involved with two mysterious men.

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One criticism I frequently point out in high octane action movies is the lack of plot development. Well, I finally found an insane action movie with a complex story. The irony in The Villainess is perhaps it has too much plot. But, don’t get me wrong, the action is spot-on amazing.

The opening scene is more-than-likely the action event of the year. Filmed straight outta Call of Duty, and featuring a body count that would make King Leonidas of Sparta blush. The first-person shooter film perspective does give me a slight headache, but I must admire the action choreography. The scene is the fix us action junkies need for our addiction.

Adrenaline junkies looking to score look no further.. have I got a film for you! There was more slicing and dicing going on in the Villainess than Benihana's dinner rush hour!

Wickedly delicious long takes featuring jaw-dropping fight scenes that only South Korea can deliver! Let's face it once you've gone South Korean Cinema there's just no going back! If this doesn't turn your crank nothing will!

The film certainly didn't waste any time dropping nonstop action on you straight out of the gate with a gloriously super long take of a female assassins overindulgence in revenge resulting in an inordinate amount of mass casualties that will freaking blow your mind!

Director Jung Byung-gil insists that “The Villainess” was made without any reference to preexisting films; that all of its gonzo action was hatched directly from his own demented imagination (with assists from stunt coordinator Kwon Gui-duck and cinematographer Park Jung-hun). And yet the very first scene of the movie busts out of the gate like a female-driven remake of “Hardcore Henry,” Jung immediately launching us into a prolonged first-person sequence in which our avatar slaughters dozens of men in a dingy crystal meth lab. Imagine the hallway fight from “Oldboy,” but three times as long and incalculably more violent (eek, another reference).

This woman murders everybody, fighting them all at least two at a time and leaving no survivors. We…

outclasses the dreadful Hardcore Henry simply by aiming its ambitions a little higher than feature-length youtube gimmick, sadly however park chan-wook and Kill Bill are difficult acts to follow in the revenge picture game. not convinced this gopro action bullshit is ever going to really work but this is probably the best case for it.

I mean I mean it's like I mean pretty wild but like what happened it became a romantic dramedy that was kind of fake but also not really and other stuuf but there's some pretty wild action. John Wick x Atomic Blonde x Kingsman.

Absolutely a case of style over substance, but when you have this much style, does that even matter? Borrows aspects from different influences but revels in doing that supremely excessive hyperviolence you see in other Korean revenge texts, Park Chan-wook's bread and butter. Borrows equally from the other major Korean export of melodrama, and your enjoyment overall will depend on how well you get on with that.

Dynamic camera work however, and great if you switch your brain off. All over the show tonally, it's too long for its flimsy plot to sustain (and thus is padded with flashbacks) but if you're into highly choreographed action sequences, there's worse ways you could spend two hours.